He needs to get to the bottom of the riots, and what really caused the looting because that wasn't to do with the guy [Mark Duggan] who got shot in Tottenham.

He needs to get more on top of gun and knife crime. There also should be more amnesties to get the weapons off the streets. Where are the guns coming from? How are the people getting hold of them?… And where are the local bobbies on the beat? People had faith in their local bobbies. My mum used to say, if it's not broke don't fix it. The old bobby used to give you a clip round the ear as a child and send you home. These are the sort of things we need in the community again.

Jenny Jones: Green party member of the London assembly and Metropolitan Police Authority

I think what brought most previous commissioners down is bad judgment and not really understanding the position they're in. It would be very difficult for someone taking the job today to say that they don't understand the difficulties.

Londoners want someone who is going to reduce crime without touching safer neighbourhood teams and the sort of police that the public engage with all the time. And that's going to be a very big challenge because there are such massive budget cuts … but that's what the new commissioner has to face.

Lee Jasper: ex-equalities adviser to London mayor

He should immediately request the prime minister to announce a royal commission into all suspicious deaths in police custody. I would also hope he would immediately seek to massively reduce the over-representation of young black people in stop-and-search figures. And finally they should abolish the 12th-century office of constable, which gives rise to so much discretionary policing that is not capable of judicial or professional challenge. We need a 21st-century conception of policing not one that relies on feudal law that is completely unsuited to modern times.

The commissioner should be someone who is prepared to face possible reorganisation, who is not stuck with the current disposition of the Met, who is prepared to embrace devolution of activity, ensuring greater local discretion to senior management. For example, dealing with gangs in one part of London might be quite different from another part of London.

In terms of terrorism, it needs somebody who will take charge of ensuring that SO15 is properly managed given that John Yates departed suddenly. I think SO15 is rather good but they've got to ensure that best practice survives.

My advice, providing he has the authority, would be to do nothing for a while. It would be good for them to stay calm and wait and see what happens with, for example, the Leveson inquiry in relation to press regulation and conduct.

The one short-term thing I'd like to see is a pause on the Met reacting to the pressures in terms of media relations … simply banning police officers from talking to journalists is not going to help anybody.

The hacking investigation seems to be pretty well resourced. Some of the tabloids will be complaining about the scale of the inquiry, but it is quite clear it needs to be big and thorough. Sue Ackers [who leads Operation Weeting into phone-hacking allegations] is doing a very good job, so let her get on with it and give her the resources she needs.

Having police on the streets is what cured the situation [with the riots]. The word robust is bandied around an awful lot but what does it actually mean? If robust policing means putting more police on the ground, then that's what needs to be done … give the police more opportunity to engage with people so they are more effective.

The police need to stop incidents without having to refer to somebody else. It takes them three days to get on the ground to stop the rioting. There's a communications issue, isn't there? [They need] intelligence in finding out what's going on and intelligence in utilising the tools you're actually given … He [the new commissioner] needs to be in charge or he shouldn't be there.

I'm a strong believer in building community relations and, given the recent riots, the Met have got a hard task in starting again. Without those relations, you're not going to have positive outcomes in getting people to engage … particularly gangs.

You need to work for and listen to your community that you serve. Zero tolerance policing won't work. Enforcement alone cannot solve the problem. You need a strong balance of enforcement and intensive welfare support. You can't lock everyone up. You'll only end up further marginalising that community.

Jody McIntyre: who was manhandled by police during student demonstrations last year

The priorities for a new commissioner should be to end the complete culture of unaccountability that exists within the police and challenge the double standard that is clearly in effect. The police might be there to enforce the law but they are also subject to that law so, if a police officer is suspected of killing someone or mistreating someone in their custody, then they should face the punishment for that crime just like any other member of the public.